Monday, June 21, 2010

Have Xbox 360, will travel? Why yes, and while that particular console isn't one I usually associate with the jet-set crowd, this GAEMS suitcase allows one to do just that. Now, about that power brick...

As in, where the heck does it go? There's no way its massive bulk is fitting in that case alongside the Xbox 360 and the 720p LCD screen and speakers, so does that mean you have to buy a second GAEMS power brick suitcase too? And how does the screen get its juice? It can't be magic, can it? I mean, Steve Jobs patented that power source when he spontaneously created the iPad from the ether.

Then there are the ever-important the controllers. Perhaps there's a GAEMS controller fanny pack forthcoming that we just don't know about yet. Perhaps.

In any event, the suitcase arrives later this year for $250. Yes, that is correct. A suitcase that's only big enough to carry the console and not the controller or power source that drives it is as, or nearly expensive as, the console it contains. Bon voyage!

The Libretto has the specs of a halfway decent ultraportable: a 1.2 GHz Pentium U5400 processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 62GB SSD, a USB port and a microSD slot. But that body isn't really like anything else, unfolding to reveal two 7-inch multitouch displays. The screens can either be used together or independently meaning one web page can span the whole device, or be sequestered on top while the bottom is filled with email, documents, or an on-screen keyboard.

Speaking of which: the Libretto has fully six different keyboard options to choose from, including a split solution that looks far more comfortable to use than what's we've seen so far in tablets.

All those ultraportables using Intel's ULV Core processors just got taken to school: Toshiba's Portégé R700 is as light as a MacBook Air, nearly as powerful as a MacBook Pro, and measures an inch thick with a DVD drive. Standard.

Putting a full voltage processor in such a thin and light frame really is a neat trick, one that Toshiba accomplished in part with something they're calling Airflow Cooling Technology. And while most companies are stripping ultraportable notebooks of their DVD drives—usually citing space and weight issues—Toshiba's managed to keep theirs in a laptop that starts at three pounds.

Good news all around for those of you considering a nook. An all-white, Wi-Fi only version, which leaked a bit early, goes on sale today for $150. That sounded pretty exciting...before the 3G version simultaneously dropped by $60.

That's right, the classic nook is now $200. From what we can tell, the only three differences between the $150 Wi-Fi nook and the $200 3G nook are:

To me, the $50 premium would be worth ensuring that I have perpetual, free access from anywhere, though a $100 nook Wi-Fi would be the eBook reader to really sell me...if such a thing is possible in the rising era of tablets.

When we first got wind of Panasonic's AG-AF100 micro four thirds camcorder back in April, it sounded more like the rough sketch of a good idea. Now that Panasonic's filled in some of the blanks, you can color me excited.

Specifically, the AG-AF100 will shoot AVCHD at 1080p and 720p at frame rates of 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25 or 23.9p and have two SDXC card slots on which you can record up to 12 hours of footage. It'll also come equipped with XLR and HD-SDI sockets standard.

The best news of all may be that you can also use any of Panasonic's G series micro four thirds still lenses with the AG-AF100. That gives you a huge range of lenses to choose from on a relatively—we're talking about $6,000—affordable rig. Even though it's targeted for professional use, it looks like a treat for those semi-professionals with some money to burn

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

May the Fourth be with you, and I couldn't imagine a better time for LucasArts to nail down a late October release date for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

While I'm sure most of you would have preferred celebrating unofficial Star Wars Day by playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, at least now fans of Starkiller's covert operations have a date to focus their Force-powered anticipation upon. October 26 is when Darth Vader's secret apprentice takes his next romp through the Star Wars universe, participating in massive, story-changing encounters in such a ways as to not ruin continuity in the original trilogy.

I mean, any more than it's already been ruined.

The news comes by way of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Facebook page, though if it helps you can imagine it was delivered via shimmering hologram projected from from an R2 unit.

The game will be available October 26 for the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 3, and PSP. We expect to see a lot more of The Force Unleashed II come E3 2010 next month.